A wide variety of means exist for communication between users. For example, a user may conduct phone calls via their home phone, work phone, and mobile phone. In addition, a user may also communicate via the Internet and other peer-to-peer models.
As technology improves, the performance of the communication network improves. Unfortunately, significant improvement in performance may cause user perception of system malfunctioning or a lack of functioning. For example, if the system is underutilized due to a long pause from a speaker, if there are impairments in the channels, or if there are recoverable or short duration faults in the network, communication between users may include long durations of intermittent silence during a conversation. During these periods of silence, the user may not be able to determine if the communication network is still functioning.